Posts Tagged innovation
Getting Creative: Start Small
Posted by sday in Corporate Social Responsibility, Employee Development, Employee Engagement, Workplace on July 14, 2009
As the economic stress continues to take its toll, businesses should stray from playing it safe. Settling into a comfortable routine puts a halt to any form of innovative thinking, and prevents surviving businesses from thriving.
Acceptance of new or “unconventional” ideas takes time. So before your company can fully embrace into its office culture creative thinking on a grand scale, consider integrating a few simple yet practical exercises that can be implemented immediately.
For the workplace
- Take a cue from the most basic and important Feng Shui* principle, and first clear the physical clutter in the office to create mental space for new business ideas. Store away, archive or get rid of idle or irrelevant paperwork, office supplies, equipment or electronic data (emails, folders, pictures, etc.) that tend to bog down production flow.
- Rearrange work areas to better suit the functionalities of work flow, contribute to energy-saving efforts, and improve the general aesthetics of your work environment.
For the employee
- Challenge your staff to write individual mission statements. It’ll be interesting to learn if their perspective aligns with yours or the business. Do some roles need to be redefined or reassigned?
- Allow employees to personalize their work stations where they can embellish with their own reading lamps, plants, artwork, floor rugs, or kitschy collections. Provide corporate guidelines on what’s appropriate.
For the staff
- Conduct quick, on-the-spot brainstorm sessions with your team to solicit ideas for product, service and production improvements. Limit the session to 30 minutes. The freshest ideas emerge when there are time constraints.
- Hold training sessions, conferences or meetings outside, if weather permits. Your staff will welcome the occasional change in scenery.
*Feng Shui is a Chinese philosophy that governs spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to patterns of yin and yang and the flow of energy.
Vianova guest blogger Shirley Day is a training and communications professional with a combined experience of 25 years in corporate and consulting environments.
Heart & Sole
Posted by vianova in Cause-Related Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Loyalty, Sustainability, Values-based Business on February 21, 2009
One of the most inspirational social entrepreneurs today, I believe, is Blake Mycoskie, founder and “chief shoe giver” of TOMS Shoes.
Blake founded TOMS Shoes with the idea that for every pair of shoes sold, they will give a pair of to a child in need. According to Blake’s blog, TOMS “started as a “project” to give 250 kids in Argentina their first pair of new shoes.” Since its founding in May of 2006, TOMS has become one of the fastest growing shoe companies on the planet. Amazing story. To date Blake and his team have given over 85,000 shoes to children in Argentina, South Africa and Ethiopia.
Here are just a few examples of why we are big fans of TOMS Shoes and it’s founder, Blake Mycoskie:
- Giving back has been incorporated into the DNA of TOMS from the start. It is a core value that is evident in all aspects of their business.
- TOMS partners with nonprofit organizations around the world to ensure that kids with the greatest need are given shoes. They do their research to ensure they partner with the right organization.
- TOMS is incorporating environmentally sustainable materials in the production of their shoes.
Check out this video of TOMS’ first “shoe drop” in Argentina in 2006:
Frank G Scarpaci is the president and founder of The Vianova Group, LLC, a corporate social responsibility consulting and training firm based in San Diego, CA.
